FSSP Solemn Mass in Guadalajara

FSSP maintains an apostolate in Guadalajara, the Capellania de San Pedro Apostol, which is one of the two places in Mexico where weekly regular and public Traditional Latin Masses that fulfil the Sunday obligation are available under diocesan auspices (according to the list of Una Voce Mexico.) The other place is a parish in the Archdiocese of Monterrey that has an "anticipated" Sunday TLM every Saturday at five in the afternoon.

The last time I heard, the F.S.S.P. was also celebrating every Sunday in Mexico City. There is a fourth every-Sunday Mass in the D. of Cuernavaca. It is scandalous that there are only four sees having it in the entire country but we do have among them the three most populous cities.

The PCED has permitted deacons in Solemn Mass to distribute Holy Communion. I think the permission was given in 2007, if not earlier. I cannot divulge private communications here but I do have an email from one of the priests who asked PCED about this.

Perhaps it is so! I wasn't complaining (necessarily), but just stating what I thought to be an odd sight.

CAP,

That's interesting. I don't know how I missed that. I have to say, I'm not really sure I'm a huge fan of that allowance. When was the last time (if ever?) in the tradition of the Church that non-priests/non-bishops were allowed to distribute Communion?

This seems to me an obvious novelty, foreign to the tradition of both the East and West.

This is a slightly edited excerpt from the email that I have, the email outlining the procedure permitted by the PCED for deacons and subdeacons in Solemn Mass to give communion. Take note of the permission for a subdeacon to wear a stole under the tunicle if he is to distribute communion:

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The deacon (who is an ordained deacon or priest)and the subdeacon (who is an ordained subdeacon, deacon or priest) may give out communion at Solemn Mass.

If this happens an altar boy carrying a communion paten (not the priest's paten from thealtar) will go with the priest to give out communion.

At the same time an altar boy carrying a communion paten (not the priest's paten from thealtar) will go with the deacon to give out communion.

And at the same time an altar boy carrying a communion paten (not the priest's paten from the altar) will go with the the subdeacon to give out communion.

The priest's paten is simply left on the altar

It is usual to wear a stole while giving out communion. Of course the priest is wearing his stole and the deacon is wearing his deacon stole already. But the subdeacon's dress does not include a stole

Ecclesia Dei in Rome suggested that when the subdeacon will give out communion he should vest for mass wearing a deacon stole under his tunicle just as the deaconwears a deacon stole under his dalmatic

The priest's fingers are purified in the chalice after communion as normal but the deacon and subdeacon who help with communion at Solemn Mass simply purify their fingers in an ablution cup near the tabernacle

The homilist (and the priest receiving conffessions) is Fr. Fryar (kind of a funny name). He used to be pastor at the FSSP mission in Phoenix and drobe two hours every Sunday, after morning mass, to come say mass for about forty people in Clarkdale, Arizona. Excellent priest. (and a great confessor!)

Phillip, the FSSPX has a new chapel in Leon Guanajuato and there might be some sedevacantist from the Trento (Thuc line) in that area of our country. Right now there aren't any places in "regular canonical situation" the Bajio area that offer the TLM but we (Una voce Mx) are working on it.

I didn't intend to deny that. I had originally written that the two places I listed are those that have Traditional Latin Masses of Sunday obligation UNDER DIOCESAN AUSPICES, but I inadvertently erased that when I edited the post a bit later. I've restored the phrase. Thank you.

Intriguing that the PCED letter speaks of the "ordained subdeacon" given that Paul VI officially "suppressed" that order in Ministeria Quaedam (though traditional orders have still conferred it,Father Zuhlsdorf for one says these ordinations have no effect).

On the other hand,have you noticed that the new documents on Anglicans include a reference to the Ordinaries having to "obey the directives" of their Episcopal Conferences?...since when have ordinaries been under obedience to clubs they belong to?

"Because it seems contrary to reason that unpurified unconsecrated hands can touch the Body of Christ. If I am wrong then lay ministers are OK."

How exactly are a deacon's hands "unpurified" versus those of a priest? Are you referring to the washing of the hands at the Lauabo inter innocentes? If so, the priest there washes his hands for the offering of the sacrifice, not for distributing Holy Communion. There is no ritual cleansing for a priest (not the celebrant) who assists in the distribution of Holy Communion at Mass, nor one for when it is given outside of Mass.

Comparing a deacon to a lay extraordinary minister is like comparing a corporal (which you know of course is only blessed, not consecrated) to my linen handkerchief. They are very nearly identical except that one has been ordained for sacred use.

What's the point of consecrating the hands of priests at their ordinations, then? Either there exists a reason apart from his privilege to touch the Body of Christ (and we're just all fools for not knowing about it), or the idea that deacons can distribute Communion is directly contrary to the liturgical traditions of the Church, an even scarier thought.

A priest's hands are consecrated for offering sacrifice and for giving blessings. The prayer accompanying the consecration of hands in the ordination rite is explicit in this: Ut quaecumque benedixerint, benedicantur; et quaecumque consecrauerint, consecrentur, et sanctificentur.

The "consecrated hands for consecrated things" slogan is a myth. Take for instance the (consecrated) chalice and paten. Of course they are on a lower plane than the Blessed Sacrament, but I've actually read comments that these should only be touched by a priest, when it is part of the rite of Mass itself that they are handled by the deacon and subdeacon. Clerical tonsure is the traditional minimum requirement for touching the sacred instruments. Likewise, diaconal ordination is the traditional minimum requirement (again I cite the practice of the early church, the Roman ritual, and the 1917 codex) for touching the Blessed Sacrament.

Well, this "myth" comes from a certain Thomas Aquinas, an obscure, backwards, low-grade medieval theologian, who must be wrong, because everything before 1969 was wrong.

The dispensing of Christ's body belongs to the priest for three reasons. First, because, as was said above (Article 1), he consecrates as in the person of Christ. But as Christ consecrated His body at the supper, so also He gave it to others to be partaken of by them. Accordingly, as the consecration of Christ's body belongs to the priest, so likewise does the dispensing belong to him. Secondly, because the priest is the appointed intermediary between God and the people; hence as it belongs to him to offer the people's gifts to God, so it belongs to him to deliver consecrated gifts to the people. Thirdly, because out of reverence towards this sacrament, nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest's hands, for touching this sacrament. Hence it is not lawful for anyone else to touch it except from necessity, for instance, if it were to fall upon the ground, or else in some other case of urgency.

Of course in some regions deacons' hands were consecrated (see Epistle of Gildas and Pontifical of Egbert of York), but the ministry of deacon was always pertaining the chalice.

The deacon, as being nigh to the priestly order, has a certain share in the latter's duties, so that he may dispense the blood; but not the body, except in case of necessity, at the bidding of a bishop or of a priest. First of all, because Christ's blood is contained in a vessel, hence there is no need for it to be touched by the dispenser, as Christ's body is touched. Secondly, because the blood denotes the redemption derived by the people from Christ; hence it is that water is mixed with the blood, which water denotes the people. And because deacons are between priest and people, the dispensing of the blood is in the competency of deacons, rather than the dispensing of the body.

ST III q.82 a.3

As for the doctrine, Cardinal Ferdinando Antonelli himself, once said, I remember it well: “How come that we make liturgists who know nothing about theology?”

How eloquent therefore, even if not of ancient custom, is the rite of the anointing of the hands in our Latin ordination, as though precisely for these hands a special grace and power of the Holy Spirit is necessary! To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained, one which indicates an active participation in the ministry of the Eucharist.

Can anyone tell mne where the SSPX celebrates Mass in Tijuana? and/or Mexicali?We are trabeling from TJ to L.A. to attend the SSPX Mass. (between the border wait and the commute, it's 5 hours to get to church).